Hubert Sapp

Hubert Sapp

Hubert Sapp is the former executive director of the Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation, a former director of Highlander Folk School and a tireless advocate for the empowerment of marginalized and disenfranchised communities, especially in the Southern United States. His professional roles have included counselor, ally and adviser to grantmakers, activists, educators, and principles in the civil rights era. He worked as Special Assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Years later he helped to found, and then became director of Oxfam America’s U.S. Funding Program.

After graduating from Harvard University, Mr. Sapp and his wife Jane Sapp along with other community organizers and community educators developed an innovative adult education program in Alabama. The program empowered students eager to progress as local leaders but who, as graduates of segregated school systems, were deprived of the necessary background for success at college. The curriculum promoted life-long learning, encouraged regular civic engagement and taught basic educational skills, all with an emphasis on how these new leaders might democratically serve the local community’s social and economic development. Mr. Sapp served as program director for nine years and the program successfully expanded to four counties in Alabama.




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